


Outworld Under Attack

by WhyTheFalcons



Category: Mortal Kombat (Video Games)
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-01-01
Updated: 2016-06-20
Packaged: 2018-05-10 20:50:32
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 6
Words: 6,212
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5600374
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/WhyTheFalcons/pseuds/WhyTheFalcons
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Shinnok has been defeated by Earthrealm's champions.  But this victory came at a cost.  Raiden has been tainted by Shinnok's dark magic and wants to invade Outworld.  A new god has come to the champion's of Earthrealm to help stop Raiden's madness and save Outworld.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. A New Face

**Author's Note:**

> This takes place immediately after the events of MKX. This is also my first attempt at writing, so constructive criticism is welcome. Enjoy.

It had been weeks since Shinnok had been defeated for the second time. The Special Forces had been busy negotiating with Outworld after the breakdown of the Reiko Accords. Sonya Blade and Johnny Cage had just returned to base after a diplomatic meeting with Kotal Kahn. Sonya had been against Johnny going on missions again so soon, still recovering from the torment that D’vorah had put him through; but he assured her that, as long as the mission didn’t involve fighting, he would be fine. They were alone, writing up their mission report when they heard a voice.

“Hey, Special Forces! I need a favor.”

Sonya jumped out of her chair, spun around, and pointed her gun at the intruder. It was a strange looking woman, as pale white as Quan Chi, dressed almost entirely in black. A hood covered the top half of her face, but her eyes glowed white, making them visible under her hood. She wore a black, sleeve-less coat that trailed down to the floor, the ends of which were horribly tattered an torn almost to pieces. Her pants were a dark gray and she had knee high black combat boots. Fingerless black gloves covered her arms up to her elbows. The only real color in her clothes was a red sash around her waist. Sonya was immediately alarmed by the fact that this strange woman’s outfit was decorated with bones. Human ribs covered her chest. Her knees were covered with some sort of rodent-looking skulls while their spines led from the skulls to the tips of her boots. Sharp teeth-type bones decorated the tops of her gloves and a human spine was attached to her hood and trailed down her back. Her fingers were completely skeletal as well. Upon seeing Sonya’s gun the woman raised her hand up in surrender.  
“Woah there, no need to get violent,” She said with a slight smirk.

“Who are you and how the hell did you get in here?” Sonya demanded as she glared at the mysterious lady. “This is a restricted area and that door was locked.”

“Well, I teleported here. One of the perks of being magic. And Johnny can tell you who I am.” At this, Sonya quickly glance over at Johnny, keeping her gun aimed at the intruder. He looked just as confused and angry as Sonya did.

“I’ve never seen you before in my life lady,” He said, “So why don’t you just tell us who you are so we can all calm down?”

“You don’t remember me?” The strange lady said with mock hurt. “And I thought I made such an impression. Oh well. Then allow me to re-introduce myself. Hello, I’m Death.” She then bowed slightly and extended her had as if to shake Johnny’s hand. Both Sonya and Johnny backed up.

“Death? You can’t expect us to believe that,” Sonya said as she glared.

“Well, the god of death technically,” said the woman as she shrugged nonchalantly, “You mortals have been calling me the grim reaper lately so, I guess you can call me Grim. And don’t worry, I’m not here to reap any souls or anything like that. I’m just here looking for some help.”

“You’re the grim reaper?” Johnny asked disbelievingly.

“That’s what you have a hard time believing?” Grim chuckled, “You hang out with magic ninjas and the god of thunder, but the grim reaper, that’s too much. Speaking of thunder gods, he’s kind of why I’m here.” That peaked Johnny’s curiosity.

“Why are you here?” He asked.

“I need help stopping Raiden.”

“What!” Sonya shouted. She stomped forward closer to Grim, she aiming her gun at the woman's head. “What makes you think we’re going to help you fight against Raiden!?”

“C’mon, he almost got you both killed, like, three times. Besides, haven’t you noticed anything strange about Raiden?” Grim asked, leaning casually against the back wall. “Glowing red eyes, dressing in all black, suddenly sounds like he swallowed a voice modulator. Any of this sound familiar?”

“Come to think of it,” Johnny interjected, “We haven’t actually seen Raiden since Shinnok was beaten.”

“And you don’t find that suspicious?” Grim asked incredulously. “He’s gone nuts since then. He’s planning on invading Outworld! Doesn’t that fall under Special Forces jurisdiction?”

“And why should we even trust you?” Sonya said, getting increasingly frustrated with the situation. “We don’t know who you are and we haven’t seen anything to suggest that Raiden is up to anything.”

“Fine, whatever,” Grim said with a shrug. “I’ll find someone else to help. Just keep in mind what I’ve said.”

“Oh no, you’re not going anywhere. You’re under arrest,” Sonya said as she moved closer to the death god to restrain her. Before she could get close, however, Grim turned around and seemingly dissolved into mist.

“That, was weird,” Johnny said. “What should we do now?”

“We find Raiden,” Sonya said with determination. “Something’s going on and I want answers.”


	2. Death and the Specter

“Well that went well,” Grim mused to herself as she left the Special Forces base. She knew talking to them was a long shot, but she needed someone to warn Kotal Kahn. Grim had hoped that Raiden had already visited the Special Forces team. His strange behavior would have helped make her story more believable. But she had other options. The black cloaked goddess teleported herself from America to Japan, near Shirai Ryu territory.

Grim had to be careful trying to talk to Hanzo Hasashi. The man was not exactly trusting with most people, much less the embodiment of death. Jumping straight into his headquarters would not be a good idea. She walked into the Shirai Ryu territory and milled around. Beings from the NeatherRealm could sense mystic energy and Grim counted on this to bring Hanzo to her. Sure enough, after a few minutes of waiting, there was a burst of flame as Hanzo appeared and pointed a sword at Grim’s throat.

“You are trespassing on Shirai Ryu territory,” He growled. “Leave now.”

“Just the ninja I was hoping to see!” Grim said with a smile, ignoring the weapon that was hovering dangerously close to her. “I’m the grim reaper, but please, call me Grim.”

“A lesser god,” Hasashi grumbled. “And why were you looking for me?”

“Raiden’s gone nuts and I need someone to beat the crazy out of him. You did it once before during that whole Kamidogu incident. I was hoping you could do it again.” Hearing this, Hanzo lowered his sword, but remained in a fighting stance.

“What has he done this time?” He asked, sounding tired and frustrated.

“I don’t know why, but I found out he’s planning on invading Outworld in order to keep Earthrealm safe.” Grim explained. “Now, I know Raiden’s had some bad ideas in the past, but this one goes beyond bad. His eyes are glowing red now too, so I’m guessing something magical is at work here.”

“Why can’t you stop him yourself?” Hanzo asked. He didn’t want to have to fix the gods’ problems.

“He’s raising an army! I may be a lesser god, but I can’t fight an army AND Raiden. Fujin’s too obsessed with guarding the Jinsei to be any actual help to me. The champions of Earthrealm are really my only hope of stopping Raiden from joining the realms together.”

“And why do you want the realms separate?” Hanzo asked with suspicion. “Why do you care? You never made your presence known during the Mortal Kombat tournaments against Shao Kahn.”

“Let’s just say, there’s a god in Outworld that I really REALLY don’t want to see.” Grim said, keeping her answer purposefully vague. “And I thought Raiden had that tournament covered. The rules said we had to find champions, bring them to Shang Tsung’s island, and they would have to fight for Earthrealm. You don’t exactly need multiple gods to babysit deadly warriors. Besides, mortals don’t exactly like having the god of death hanging around a death tournament. Bad for morale.”

“I will have to investigate your claims before I take any action against Raiden,” Hanzo sighed. He didn’t know if he could believe this strange goddess, but he could believe that Raiden’s mistakes had put everyone in danger again.

“Well that brings us to the other reason why I was hoping to find you,” Grim said before Hanzo could leave. “While I can’t see what he’s doing there, I have sensed that Raiden has gone down to Neatherrealm many times in the past few weeks. You’re one of the few humans who knows what goes on in Neatherrealm soooo….” Upon hearing this Hanzo’s blood ran cold. Neatherrealm? Nothing good ever came from the Neatherrealm.

“What is he doing down there?” Hanzo thought out loud.

“Like I said, I can’t see what he does down there. I can only sense that he goes there,” Grim explained. “He must be down there for something important, though. No one likes going to Neatherrealm. It’s a literal hell hole.”

“I have to go,” Hasashi said. “If Neatherrealm is involved I need to investigate immediately!” And with that, Hanzo Hasashi disappeared in another burst of flame. Grim quickly disappeared as well, dissolving into mist as she traveled to find her next ally.


	3. Thing's Start Getting Interesting

Next stop, Lin Kuei Temple. Sub-Zero was the last major hero Grim could think of to help stop Raiden. All the other heroes were connected to the Special Forces, and they already turned Grim away. If she convinced Sub-Zero to join her cause, though, maybe he could convince the Special Forces. In the courtyard she asked one of the guards to get Sub-Zero. A few minutes later Sub-Zero came out with several more guards in tow.

Grim told Sub-Zero what she had told the others. Raiden’s crazy, Outworld in danger, ect. Before she could finish her explanation, there was a large crack of lightning. Grim cursed under her breath. Raiden was on to her plan. How did he find out so soon? She thought she would have at least another day before she started to raise suspicion. Now it was damage control time. Grim spun around to face Raiden, arms flung out wide with a giant smile plastered onto her face.

“Raiden! Long time no see!” Grim said with all the fake charm she could muster. “What brings you to this mountain top?” Raiden said nothing. He glared at her, crackling with electricity. Sub-Zero, sensing a fight coming, sent his guards away and backed away from the two gods. He was still unsure of who to trust and didn’t want to get the Lin Kuei involved just yet. The silence seemed to stretch on forever before Grim tried to strike up a conversation once more.

“So what have you been up to?” At this, Raiden finally decided to speak.

“You have been building an army against me?” Raiden boomed furiously. “You have been trying to turn my allies against me? You attempt to undermine my plans to save Earthrealm!?” Raiden took a few steps closer to Grim. She took an equal number of steps back to maintain her distance away from the angry thunder god.

“Aw, you know how the old rumor mill is,” Grim replied, still maintaining her fake smile. “I mean, I heard a rumor that you were planning on taking over Outworld, so you know you can’t believe ev-“

**CRACK**

Raiden shot a bolt of lightning that hit Grim square in the chest. She flew backwards and crashed into the wall of the Lin Kuei Temple. She slumped down and sat motionless. Raiden then turned and focused his attention on Sub-Zero. Sub-Zero was startled by Raiden’s glowing red eyes.

“Do not believe the lies she has told you,” Instructed Raiden. “She is a corrupt creature that wishes only for death and destruction.” 

“That’s rich, coming from a guy who wants to destroy a whole realm,” Grim’s shaky voice taunted. Raiden turned around to see that Grim was back on her feet again, leaning heavily against the wall. “Gotta admit, that lighting was a lot stronger than I remember you casting. You been messing with some evil artifacts or something?”

Raiden glared and shot another bolt of lightning. The lightning struck and Grim seemingly disappeared from existence. Before Raiden could register what happened, Grim reappeared next to Raiden and hit him with a roundhouse.

“I was ready for you that time!” The reaper shouted triumphantly. “Now, can we talk about this civilly, or are we gonna have to fight?” Raiden responded by flying forward, his body charged with electricity. Grim quickly side-stepped his attack and raised her arms. The air between her hands shimmered with green energy that materialized into a scythe. Grim brought the scythe down and stood in a fighting stance, ready to meet Raiden’s next attack. Raiden then flung a volley of electric bolts at Grim, which she dodged or deflected with her scythe.

“Why do you undermine my plans!?” Raiden shouted as he attacked. “I only wish to protect Earthrealm!”

“You can’t protect yourself by killing your neighbors!” Grim shouted back. She then flung her scythe at Raiden. It spun wildly as it headed for its target. Raiden quickly stopped shooting to duck under the flying weapon. This gave Grim an opening to charge Raiden and land a quick uppercut. The thunder god fell, but immediately rolled back onto his feet. He then tried to launch a similar attack, but Grim deflected his fist and countered with a knee to his gut. As Raiden doubled up in pain Grim slashed at his face, her boney fingers as sharp as claws. Raiden stumbled back and saw Grim raise her arm for another attack. The thunder god teleported behind her, so that her claws were met with only air. The goddess quickly whipped around, but she wasn’t fast enough to block Raiden’s fist as it careened with her face. Raiden followed this attack with a hook and a kick that sent Grim flat on her back.

Raiden raised his hand up to summon a lightning strike, but Grim teleported out of sight before the lightning could hit its mark. The thunder god looked wildly around the courtyard trying to find his enemy, but she was nowhere to be seen.

“You cannot run!” He shouted. “I will find you! Earthrealm will be saved!” In his fury, Raiden didn’t notice the mist around him, or that it had solidified into a person holding a scythe behind him.

“Gotcha,” Grim whispered as she buried the blade of her weapon deep into Raiden’s side. He yelled out in pain. Then, Raiden did something Grim was not expecting. Before she could pull her scythe out, Raiden jerked his body around, wrenching the scythe’s handle away from the reaper’s grip. With one hand clutching his wound in pain, he reached out his other hand to grab Grim’s face. Before Grim could pull away, Raiden sent an enormous amount of electricity flowing from his body into hers. Grim’s screams filled the air as her body jerked uncontrollably. With one final jolt, Raiden sent Grim flying back, skidding across the floor. He then pulled the scythe from his side as Grim struggled to get up.

“Enough!” Raiden boomed as he clutched his bleeding side. “You have caused enough damage. You will trouble me no longer!” He then reached for the amulet pinned to his chest. An amulet that Sub-Zero, who had watched the fight from the sidelines, knew all too well. Shinnok’s amulet. At that moment, Sub-Zero knew Raiden had gone too far. Before Raiden could unleash the amulet’s energy, Sub-Zero shot out an ice ball, freezing the amulet and Raiden’s hand. Raiden looked at Sub-Zero with bewilderment. As the reality of what Sub-Zero had done sank in, Raiden’s expression turned to one of pure rage.

“You dare betray me?!” Raiden shouted. “I brought you back from the dead! I protected your home of Earthrealm! I have been your ally and you betray me!?” Raiden stomped menacingly towards Sub-Zero.

“Shinnok’s amulet is too dangerous,” Sub-Zero said defiantly. “You know that. It should be locked away, not used as a weapon!” The amulet flashed with energy and shattered the ice that encased it. Raiden pointed the amulet at Sub-Zero, when suddenly two skeletal hands buried their fingers into the sides of Raiden’s face.

“Remember me asshole!?” Grim shouted with an evil grin on her face. Green energy started traveling from her fingers up her arms. It reminded Sub-Zero unpleasantly of Shang Tsung’s soul sucking. Raiden cried out and sank to his knees. Grim’s devilish smile then sank to a concerned expression. She removed her claws from Raiden’s face and stared at her hands in worry. This was just enough time for Raiden to raise a hand toward the sky and summon a thunder bolt to teleport him away.

Sub-Zero shielded his eyes from the lightning’s flash. When his vision cleared, Grim was still standing there, staring at her hands. Her fingertips were slick with Raiden’s blood and green energy danced between her fingers. As Sub-Zero approached her, she snapped out of her stupor.

“Oh hey! Thanks for the save back there,” She said. “I guess that means you’re on my side huh? I doubt Raiden will trust you after that stunt.”

“I did not know he was wielding Shinnok’s amulet.” Sub-Zero replied. “That amulet was supposed to be hidden and kept safe. But I must ask, what did you do to Raiden near the end of the fight? It looked like you were draining something from him.”

“Oh yeah, I was just draining his life energy,” Grim answered and absent-mindedly glanced back down at her hands. “It would kill a mortal, but an immortal like Raiden will be fine. And I might have found out what’s wrong with Raiden too. When I was draining his energy I felt something very dark and very powerful. It might be Shinnok’s magic.”

“You think Raiden is being controlled by Shinnok?”

“I don’t think so. He’s still trying to protect Earthrealm, not destroy it. I think the magic is corrupting him into an extremist, not directly controlling him.”

“So how do we remove this magic from him?”

“Not sure, but you need to call Special Forces and tell them what happened. They didn’t believe me about Raiden at first, but they may believe you. We need to gather Earthrealm’s heroes and come up with a plan of attack.”


	4. Planning Time

Sub-Zero and Sonya organized a meeting between the Special Forces, Sub-Zero, and Grim. They all met in a secret bunker, hopefully unknown to Raiden. Special Forces had some secrets they didn’t share, even with the mighty thunder god. Everyone in attendance was in agreement that Raiden had gone too far using Shinnok’s amulet instead of locking it away. The question now, was what to do about it. All of Earthrealm’s champions sat around a long metal table while Grim stood at the head of the table and explained the situation.

“Right now, Raiden is creating an army to try and invade Outworld,” Grim told everyone. “There’s some powerful evil magic in Raiden and now he thinks the best way to save Earthrealm is to destroy the neighboring Outworld and then merge the two together. This magic is also making him stronger and it probably has something to do with Shinnok.”

“How did Shinnok manage to take control of Raiden?” Sonya questioned. “I thought he was trapped in his amulet.”

“He’s not directly controlling Raiden,” Grim corrected her. “And Raiden has been using the amulet. Maybe the magic is seeping out of the amulet into Raiden.”

“The Jinsei!” Kung Jin suddenly exclaimed. Everyone looked at him with confused expressions. “After Cassie defeated Shinnok, Raiden went into the Jinsei to purify it. I thought Shinnok’s impurity would kill Raiden, but it didn’t. It corrupted him!”

“Well we found out why he’s crazy, but we don’t know how to fix his crazy,” said Grim.

“You managed to drain some of his energy,” Sub-Zero interjected. “Could you drain the evil energy that infects Raiden?”

“That would just make me crazy,” Grim sighed. “Then you’d have to find a way to stop me. Not helpful.”

“You must know some way to stop this,” Cassie insisted. “You’re a god. You know about this stuff, right.”

“This has never happened before!” Grim defended herself. “I don’t have, any sort of precedence for this kind of thing. I’m just as lost as you guys.”

“Are we gonna have to…” Johnny Cage trailed off before he could finish his question. “Well, you know. Are we gonna kill him?” The room fell silent. No one really wanted to consider killing their former mentor and ally.

“I was hoping to avoid that,” Grim said, breaking the awkward silence. “A god hasn’t died in thousands of years. I don’t want to break that streak.” Her words did little to comfort everyone in the room. They all knew that they might be forced to kill Raiden.

“While we do appreciate your help,” Kenshi said, changing the subject. “We all know very little about you. We do not even know why you wish to help us.” This peaked everyone’s curiosity. Why was this mysterious goddess trying to help them all of the sudden? Everyone turned to Grim expectantly.

“That’s not really important right now,” Grim said, deflecting the question. “The more important issue is how are we going to stop Raiden?” Some of the fighters’ expressions soured.

“That doesn’t exactly make us want to trust you,” Kenshi said calmly. “What are you trying to hide? Why come to help us now when you have never helped us in the past?” The death goddess shifted uncomfortably under everyone’s stares. Her boney fingers tapped on the table as she tried to find an excuse that would satisfy everyone. Coming up with nothing, she sighed, and decided to tell them the truth.

“I couldn’t help you guys when you were fighting hell demons and what-not,” Grim explained with some annoyance. “If I showed up and said, ‘Hey, I’m death incarnate. Don’t worry I’m on your side,’ would you have believed me? You guys don’t even trust me now, I can tell. The only reason we’re working together right now is because we’re all desperate. And as for why I’m here now, well, there’s someone in Outworld that I really don’t want to see again. They kinda want me dead and if Outworld and Earthrealm merge, well, I’m in trouble. ”

“Wait, hold on, who could possibly kill death?” Cassie asked incredulously.

“Another god,” Grim continued. “And that would mean bad news for all of you. See, there’s this prophecy you guys all probably know about. It says that when me, and these three other gods come together…well…the world ends.” There was a few beats of stunned silence at this news.

“The four horsemen!?” shouted Kung Jin. “You’re telling us that your one of the four horsemen of the apocalypse!?”

“See why I didn’t want to tell you guys?” Grim said with a shrug. “People are already uncomfortable talking with the personification of death. Knowing that I can also end the world just makes things more awkward. Never did get why you guys called us horsemen. Not all of us ride horses.”

“Don’t change the subject,” Sonya said as she pounded her fist on the table. “The four horsemen are real and you can start the apocalypse?! Are you trying to threaten us?”

“Calm down, I’m not threatening you. See, the end of times only happens when the leader of the horsemen says it’s go time. Luckily for you, I’m the leader and I very much don’t want all life to end. Unfortunately, god of war does want the world to end. I think he still goes by Ares. He thinks the apocalypse will be the greatest war ever, his magnum opus. He also lives in Outworld and thinks if he can beat me, then he’ll become the leader of the horsemen. I know you’ll all understand then why I don’t really want to give him the opportunity to fight me.”

“Why can’t he come after you now?” Jacqui asked. “And what about the other horsemen? Are they a threat?”

“Well, when lesser gods go to a realm that isn’t there’s, we lose a lot of our power,” Grim explained. “That’s why each of the four horsemen is in a different realm, to prevent us from fighting for control. If Ares came to Earthrealm to attack me, he’d be too weak to win. If the realms were merged, however, he wouldn’t have that problem. The other two gods have never really been outwardly violent towards me, so I don’t think they’ll be a problem. Right now, I’m just concerned about Ares, and Raiden.”

“Never knew the other realms had gods,” Johnny mused.

“Of course they have gods,” said Grim. “Why do you think Shao Kahn was constantly starting wars with other realms? Ares was telling him to keep fighting everyone. And now that we’ve wasted enough time talking about me and my problems, we should come up with a plan to stop Raiden.” She was eager to get off the whole “I might cause the end of days” thing.

“First, we need to warn Kotal Kahn,” Cassie said, taking charge. “He needs time to prepare for an attack if Raiden does manage to invade. Kotal may be able to invoke Mortal Kombat, but Raiden will probably have planned a way to get around that. My team will go to warn him.”

“I’ll go with you,” Johnny chimed in. Sonya stood up and glared at him.

“You are not going anywhere in your condition,” She commanded. “You’re still recovering. I cannot allow you to go on any missions.”

“What!? I was going on missions to Outworld before! I just went on one yesterday!” Johnny stood up and stared down Sonya.

“And I was against you going on those! Besides, those were peace missions. Now we are at war. You are not going.”

“Enough!” Cassie shouted as she stepped in between her parents. “We don’t need this bickering. Both of you will stay at the base. We can’t all go to Outworld. That would just make Raiden suspicious.” Sonya and Johnny both backed down at this. They knew Cassie was right.

“Someone has to tell Master Hasashi,” Takeda pointed out. “The Shirai Ryu would be a valuable asset for us.”

“I already told him,” Grim said. “He went to go investigate the Neatherrealm.”

“You sent him to the Neatherrealm!” said Takeda in a panicked voice. “Don’t you know what happens to him when he goes to the Neatherrealm!?”

“I didn’t tell him to go,” Grim defended. “I told him Raiden keeps going to Neatherrealm for unknown reasons. Before I could say anything else, he ran off to the nearest portal. Oh yeah, Raiden keeps going to Neatherrealm. Forgot to tell you guys. Got kinda side-tracked.” This information made everyone uncomfortable, most of all Sub-Zero.

“I have to go tell Jax,” the ninja said solemnly. “If Neatherrealm is involved, he deserves to know.”

“Why my dad?” Jacqui said concerned.

“Hanzo, your father and I were all trapped in the Neatherrealm once,” Sub-Zero explained. He stared at the table as he talked, unable to make eye-contact with anyone. “The things we had to endure. The things we were forced to do…He’ll want to know that the Neatherrealm is involved in something this important.” Jacqui nodded, understanding how painful being a revenant was to her father.

“Then I guess the rest of you will be prepare your armies for attack then?” Grim interrupted Sub-Zero and Jacqui’s emotional moment. “I guess we have a plan then. Before we split then, I want you each to take one of these.” She cupped her hands together and created a glowing green light. In a flash, the light materialized multiple small green crystals that Grim scattered onto the table.

“You guys can use these to contact me,” She explained. “They’re like magical pagers. You can’t talk to me through them, but they will let me know that you want to summon me. They only work in Earthrealm, though. All you have to do is whisper ‘Death’ into it and poof, I’ll be there.”

“What will you do then?” Kenshi asked as he reached for a crystal. Grim gave a heavy sigh.

“Since I don’t have any ideas I have to go get help,” she said, annoyed. “And none of the lesser gods are going to be much help so, unfortunately, I have to go ask the Elder Gods for advice. Hopefully they’ll actually realize how serious the situation is and actually do something for once.” With one last annoyed huff, Grim dissolved into black mist and disappeared. Everyone else exited the bunker and went off to complete their various jobs.


	5. The Elder Gods are Useless

Grim appeared on a stone platform. The Elder Gods towered over her, their features were shrouded by fog. Like most of the lesser gods, Grim hated the Elder Gods. They just sat around and did nothing, no matter how dire the situation was. She doubted she could get the Elder Gods to see reason, but maybe the fact that Shinnok was involved would scare them into doing something.

“Why have you come before us?” Boomed one of the Elders. Grim couldn’t tell any of them apart with all the fog.

“You know why I’m here,” the lesser goddess snapped back. “The god you appointed as Earthrealm’s defender, he’s gone crazy. Oh yeah, and Shinnok’s magic is making him crazy. You guys see everything, you know what I want.”

“You wish to know how to cure Raiden,” another Elder God’s voice rumbled. “However, this type of magical impurity has never been seen before.”

“Thank you for the re-cap,” Grim grumbled. “So what do I do?”

“We cannot tell you the answers you seek.”

“What!?” Grim shouted. “What do you mean you can’t tell me? Do you not know what to do, or are you pulling that ‘we can’t get involved in mortal affairs’ crap?”

“Arrogance!” several of the Elders shouted at once. Even through the fog, Grim could see them glaring at her. “You do not know the immense power we hold! We cannot use this power without cause!”

“Without cause!? This problem is being caused by Shinnok! You know, Shinnok. The exiled Elder god who has tried to kill all of you! And don’t lecture me about power. I could end all life in all of the realms if I wanted. I know what power is. Now, if you know anything about how to solve this, I suggest you tell me.” The Elder Gods looked and each other, somehow silently deciding what to do. After a few moments they all turned their gaze back to Grim.

“We cannot tell you what you want to know,” Grim clenched her fists in rage as one of the Elders addressed her. “However, we can give you important information. Not all of Shinnok is within his amulet.”

“I’m sorry what?” Grim asked, her rage turning into confused annoyance. “Not all of Shinnok is in his amulet? What the hell does that mean? Are only his arms in the amulet and Shinnok’s running around somewhere? Did Raiden just hobble Shinnok to mess with him?”

“We have given you the information you need” an Elder answered, being incredibly unhelpful. “Be gone!” There was a flash and Grim found herself back on Earthrealm. Great, she had more questions now than she did before she went to see the Elder Gods.

“Man,” the death goddess whined. “How hard is it to just get a straight answer?"


	6. Hanzo's Mission

Hanzo Hasashi hated the Neatherrealm. There was nothing in all the realms that he hated more than the Neatherrealm. He had learned to control the demonic rage called Scorpion years ago. On Earthrealm he could harness that power and use it to his advantage. It was different in the Neatherrealm. Scorpion was stronger here. Being in this realm made Hasashi’s skin burn. Murderous thoughts assaulted his mind and rage clouded his judgement. His appearance even changed to that of the white eyed demon down here. It took all of Hanzo’s concentration and willpower to stay focused on his mission.

Hanzo found himself sneaking around the main citadel in the center of Neatherrealm. As soon as he finished talking to Grim, he went to the Neatherrealm portal that exited closest to the citadel. If Raiden was planning something, he would probably be operating out of this building.

His hunch proved to be right. There were hundreds and hundreds of demons outside, far more than there would normally be. Not only that, they seemed organized. This was the army Raiden was building. He was going to invade Outworld with hordes of demons, just like Shinnok had done when he invaded Earthrealm. Why? He had to find the answer. The yellow ninja crept along the walls of the massive building, looking for an entrance point.

There were no windows on the ground floor of the citadel, probably to keep intruders out. That was not a problem for Hanzo. He found an area with relatively few demons. When they had their backs to him, Hanzo launched his signature rope spear at one of the windows on the upper floors. With the spear securely implanted into the wall, he quickly scaled the building and entered through the window.

Once inside, Hanzo slowly made his way down to the throne room, stopping every now and again to avoid the guards. He couldn’t afford to be seen by anybody. Not only would the guards be alerted to an intruder, but they would definitely recognize him. He was one of the fiercest fighters in the Neatherrealm back when he was still a specter and was widely respected. Not only that, but he was sure to be famous as one of the few people to escape this hell and return to the land of the living. Hanzo would prefer that Raiden did not know that the Shirai Ryu were working against him. As he approached the throne room he heard voices. They sounded familiar.

“Are the troops ready yet? Raiden wants to invade Outworld as soon as possible.” It was a female voice. Hazo risked looking past the doorframe to see who it was. He didn’t recognize the woman, but he did recognize the bladed fans attached to her hip. The woman must be Kitana. That would make the man she was talking to Liu Kang.

“The troops will be ready in time,” Liu Kang said. “Raiden has become increasingly impatient. Does he not realize that it takes time to build an army?”

“Apparently there is another god that is interfering with Raiden’s plans,” Kitana coolly explained. She must be talking about Grim. So she was found out already? “Raiden wants to move the invasion date forward because of this.”

“I do not agree with Raiden’s plans,” Liu Kang said angrily. “What do we get from invading Outworld? Why should we listen to him?”

“We obey him because he is powerful. He killed our former master, so now he is our master.” Upon saying this, Kitana walked over to an ornately carved table. Sitting upon the table was something round. He couldn’t see it very well, but it looked like Shinnok’s headdress. Looking at it closer it appeared to be, moving? It was a head! Shinnok’s severed head! He thought Shinnok had been imprisoned inside of the amulet. Hanzo had to tell the other Earthrealm fighters about this immediately. He turned around and started to make his way back up to the upper floors to make his escape.

As he snuck through the halls, Hanzo couldn’t help but feel guilt claw at his heart. Liu Kang and Kitana, they were revenants because of him. If he had not been so blinded by his need for revenge, Quan Chi would still be alive and could have been forced to return the revenants back to life. Instead, Hanzo slaughtered Quan Chi and the revenants were trapped forever in the Neatherrealm. Perhaps he wasn’t as in control of his rage as he had thought.

Distracted by his guilt, Hanzo did not notice the oni guard approaching him until it was too late. Hanzo and the oni locked eyes. The ninja threw his spear at the guard’s throat to silence him, but he was too slow. The guard managed to scream before the kunai punctured his larynx. Well, so much for stealth. Hanzo broke into a sprint, running up the stairs to freedom. He could hear the pounding of boots and the clank of armor behind him as the other guards came to investigate the scream. Another guard ahead of him tried to stop the speeding yellow ninja, but Hanzo dispatched him with a slice to the oni’s jugular and continued to charge on ahead.

Hanzo jumped out of the first window he could find. In mid-air, he shot his spear at the ground just past the citadel’s stone wall, yanking himself past the outer barrier. He rolled as he landed and immediately resumed running. There was no way the guards didn’t recognize him. So much for keeping Raiden in the dark. Hanzo ran for the portal to return to Earthrealm, his mission accomplished.


End file.
